Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

ARISTIDES, AELIUS

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 495 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

ARISTIDES, AELIUS , surnamed See also:THEODORUS, See also:Greek rhetorician and sophist, son of Eudaemon, a See also:priest of See also:Zeus, was See also:born at Hadriani in See also:Mysia, A.D. 117 (or 129). He studied under Herodes See also:Atticus of See also:Athens, Polemon of See also:Smyrna, and See also:Alexander of Cotyaeum, in whose See also:honour he composed a funeral oration still extant. In the practice of his calling he travelled through See also:Greece, See also:Italy, See also:Egypt and See also:Asia, and in many places the in-habitants erected statues to him in recognition of his talents. In 156 he was attacked by an illness which lasted thirteen years, the nature of which has caused considerable See also:speculation. How-ever, it in no way interfered with his studies; in fact, they were prescribed as See also:part of his cure. Aristides' favourite See also:place of See also:residence was Smyrna. In 178, when it was destroyed by an See also:earthquake, he wrote an See also:account of the disaster to Aurelius, which deeply affected the See also:emperor and induced him to rebuild the See also:city. The grateful inhabitants set up a statue in honour of Aristides, and styled him the " builder " of Smyrna. He refused all honours from them except that of priest of Asclepius, which See also:office he held till his See also:death, about 189. The extant See also:works of Aristides consist of two small rhetorical See also:treatises and fifty-five declamations, some not really speeches at all. The treatises are on See also:political and See also:simple speech, in which he takes See also:Demosthenes and See also:Xenophon as See also:models for See also:illustration; some critics attribute these to a later compiler (Spengel, Rhetores Graeci).

The six Sacred Discourses have attracted some See also:

attention. They give a full account of his protracted illness, including a See also:mass of superstitious details of visions, dreams and wonderful See also:cures, which the See also:god Asclepius ordered him to See also:record. These cures, from his account, offer similarities to the effects produced by See also:hypnotism. The speeches proper are epideictic or show speeches—on certain gods, panegyrics of the emperor and individual cities (Smyrna, See also:Rome) ; justificatory—the attack on See also:Plato's See also:Gorgias in See also:defence of See also:rhetoric and the four statesmen, See also:Thucydides, See also:Miltiades, See also:Pericles, See also:Cimon; symbouleutic or political, the subjects being taken from the past See also:history of See also:free Greece—the Sicilian expedition, See also:peace negotiations with See also:Sparta, the political situation after the See also:battle of See also:Leuctra. The Panathenaicus and Encomium of Rome were actually delivered, the former imitated from Isocrates. The Leptinea—the genuineness of which is disputed—contrast unfavourably with the speech of Demosthenes. Aristides' works were highly esteemed by his contemporaries; they were much used for school instruction, and distinguished rhetoricians wrote commentaries upon them. His See also:style, formed on the best models, is generally clear and correct, though sometimes obscured by rhetorical ornamentation; his subjects being mainly fictitious, the cause possessed no living See also:interest, and his attention was concentrated on See also:form and diction. Editio princeps (52 declamations only) (1517) ; See also:Dindorf (1829) ; Kell (1899); See also:Sandys, Hist. of Class. Schol. i. 312 (ed. 1906).

End of Article: ARISTIDES, AELIUS

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
ARISTIDES ['Apuvrei817s] (c. 530—468 B.C.) 		[next]
ARISTIDES, APOLOGY OF

Site © 2006 - Net Industries